Electric pressing iron



Nov. 17, 1970 L. A. BARNAS, JR, ET

ELEGTRIC PRESSING IRON 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1, 1968 Nov. 17, 1970L. A. BARNAS, JR ETFAL 3,541,308

ELECTRIC PRESSING IRON Filed May 1, 1968 j 3 Sheets-Sheet 2fizz/awacfuzls J9. ficuvuw, fezacy Nov. 17, 1970 s, JR" ETAL 3,541,305

ELECTRIC PRESSING IRON Filed May 1, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 8 O20fizveniozs; 72113] 7544; wax

United States Patent O 3,541,306 ELECTRIC PRESSING IRON Louis A. Barnas,Jr., Cary, and Jerry P. Gronwick, Park Ridge, 11L, assignors to SunbeamCorporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 1, 1968,Ser. No. 725,801 lint. Cl. D0613 75/40 US. Cl. 219--245 6 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISOLOSURE An electric pressing iron having a handlewhich improves the stability of the iron in its upended position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to electricpressing irons and, more particularly, to an improved iron having ahandle providing good stability against being tipped over when the ironis in its upended position.

According to a recent survey, over ninety-nine percent of theelectrically wired homes in this country have an electric pressing iron,and it is evident that this appliance is considered to be a necessityfor the efiicient operation of a household. Though electric pressingirons are available with different visual stylings and various featuressuch as steam producing system, spray mechanism, water level gauge andthe like, nearly all of the irons follow the standard construction ofproviding a base having an electric resistance element for heating asole plate, the temperature of which is controlled by a thermostat. Aplastic handle which is resistant to heat is secured to the base and hasa hand gripping portion for the user to grasp the iron while in use. Toiron effectively, it is necessary for the sole plate to be heated to arelatively high temperature. Since a hot sole plate can causeconsiderable damage, irons are normally constructed with some provisionfor supporting the iron in an upended position wherein the sole plate israised above the supporting surface which is normally an ironing board.While ironing, it is frequently necessary to place the iron down inorder for the user to manipulate the clothes on the ironing board or toperform some other task. Furthermore, when the ironing operation iscompleted, the iron is normally stored in the upended position so thatthe hot sole plate cannot cause any damage while it is cooling.

Most of the weight of an electric iron resides in the sole plate whichis normally formed of aluminum, steel or some metallic laminate. Thefact that a large proportion of the weight of the iron resides in thesole plate does not present a problem when the iron is being used.However, when the iron is stored in its upended position, the relativelyheavy sole plate causes the center of gravity to be positioned aconsiderable distance above the supporting surface and frequently is notcentered with respect to the supporting portions of the iron. Most ironsare supported in the upended position by the rear portion of the baseand the rear portion of the handle engaging the supporting surface atthree points, namely, the laterally spaced ends of the base and theupper center of the rear end of the iron handle which is spaced aconsiderable distance from the iron base. As a result, the iron in theupended position has very little stability against being tipped oversideways and possibly towards either the front or back depending uponthe location of the center of gravity for the specific iron. Inasmuch asirons in their upended positions are normally placed on rather narrowironing boards, the tipping over of the iron can result in the ironfalling onto the floor and being damaged. Depending on the orientationof the iron as it strikes the floor, damage can occur to the internalcomponents of the iron or to the outwardly exposed parts or to both.

There is a serious risk that when an iron accidentally drops form theironing board to the floor due to its instability in its upended storageposition, the plastic handle may be broken exposing current carryingcomponents. This situation is particularly dangerous when the iron isstill operable since the user may continue to operate the iron withexposed current conducting parts or with a loose electric power cord.

Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an iron which is stable inits upended storage position. The improved stability characteristic ofthe iron should not materially increase its cost nor detract from itsattractive appearance or aethetic qualities. Obviously, the improvedstability should not come at the expense of the utility ormaneuverability of the iron.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electricpressing iron having a base which includes a heatable bottom surface forpressing clothes and a handle secured to the base. The handle has a handgripping portion for the user to grasp while operating the iron. Boththe base and handle are provided with rearwardly facing portions adaptedto support the iron in its upended storage position wherein the heatedbottom surface does not engage the supporting surface. The rearsupporting portion of the handle extends laterally a substantiallygreater distance than the handle gripping portion to provide stabilityagainst tipping over when the iron is in its upended position.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anelectric pressing iron which has improved stability against being tippedover when it is in its upended position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electricpressing iron having a handle with stabilizing means reducing thelikelihood of the iron being tipped over sideways when in its upendedposition.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an electricpressing iron having an improved handle with a rear portion to lessenthe likelihood of the iron being tipped over in its upended position,and also, said rear portion secures the electric power cord to the ironin selectable positions.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an electricpressing iron with an improved handle having first means to improve thestability of the iron in the upended storage position and with secondmeans to lessen the likelihood of an electrical hazard if said firstmeans is broken exposing internal components of the iron handle.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds, and the features ofnovelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisspecifica tion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a better understanding of thepresent invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric pressing iron embodying thepresent invention and which is illustrated with a portion of theelectric power cord removed;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary exploded assembly view of the rear of the ironwith the rear portion of the handle deleted;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section view taken substantially along line 4-4of FIG. 3, assuming that the iron is as sembled together;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line5--5 of FIG. 2, assumming that FIG. 2 discloses the complete structure;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the iron in its upended position anddiscloses the approximate location of the center of gravity of the iron;

FIG. 7 is a schematic sketch of the geometric relationship of the pointsof contact of the iron with a supporting surface in order to depict thefactors effecting the stability of the iron; and

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the iron in its upended position torelate its points of contact.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingwherein like reference characters designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views, there is shown an electric pressing irondesignated by the reference numeral 20. As viewed in FIG. 1, the iron 20includes a base 22 and a handle 23 secured to the base. For supplyingelectrical power to the iron 20, an electric power cord 25 is attachedto the handle 23. The base 22 includes a sole plate 27 having a pointedforward end 28 and having a fiat rear end 29 and an inverted cup-shapedcover shell 31 with a pointed forward end 32 which is complementary tothe sole plate forward end 28 and a rear section or surface 33 which isslightly concave so that it is formed with laterally spaced rearwardlyextending ends 34 and 35. Although not shown, the base 22 includes anelectric resistance heater for heating the sole plate 27 which has aflat bottom surface 37 for engaging with the clothes to be ironed. Thesole plate 27 may be fabricated from any suitable metal such asaluminum, steel or a metallic laminate. However, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that the sole plate 27 isrelatively heavy with regard to the overall weight of the iron. Theshell 31 is fabricated from sheet metal and performs the function ofcovering the internal components attached to the sole plate and alsospacing the handle 23 from the sole plate 27 in order to limit theamount of heat transferred to the handle from the sole plate. To supportthe sole plate 27 spaced above the sup porting surface when the iron isin its upended position, the shell 31 extends longitudinally a greaterdistance than the sole plate, and a plate 39 is held in position byscrew 40 for closing the opening between the shell rear surface 33 andsole plate end 29 to prevent the entrance of material therein.

In accordance with the present invention, the handle 23 has a mainportion 41 including an elongated, longitudinally extending, handgripping portion 42 which is disposed near the top of the iron and whichthe user may grasp while operating the iron. It should be appreciatedthat the iron is shown in its horizontal operating position in FIG. 1whereby the sole plate bottom surface 37 can easily be presented to andglided over the clothes being ironed. Preferably, the handle 23 ismolded from a suitable heat resistant plastic such as a phenolicplastic. At the rear of the handle 23 is rear portion or door 45 whichis secured to the handle main portion 41 by a suitable screw 46. Thehandle main portion 41 is formed with a rear inclined surface 48disposed to receive a complementary surface 50 on door 45 in abuttingrelationship when the screw 46 is tightened. The joining of surfaces 48and 50 defines a parting line 51 between these handle parts. Oppositelydisposed openings 53 and 54 are defined at the parting line 51 toreceive the electric power cord 25 and a suitable plastic cap 56. Withthis arrangement, the cord 25 can be affixed to the iron 20 so that itemerges from either side thereof to accommodate usage of the iron byeither a right or left handed person. That is to say, the cord 25 isoriented in FIG. 1 for a right handed person, and if a left handedperson wished to use the iron, the respective positions of cord 25 andcap 56 would be reversed.

Inside the handle 23, the electric power cord 25 is provided withinsulated covered conductors 58 and 59 which are electrically connectedwith metal terminals 61 and 62 which, in turn, are in electricalconnection with the resistance heater. Although the cord 25 is fixedlyheld in position by being trapped between handle main portion 41 anddoor 45 at either opening 53 or 54, there is also provided a generallyU-shaped bracket 65 which rigidly secures the cord 25 to the handle mainportion 41. The bracket 65, which is preferably formed from sheet metal,includes a bight portion 66 which is clamped to the iron handle surface48 by a screw 67 and a pair of spaced legs 69 and 70', each of which hasa notched 71 and 72, respectively. When the bracket 65 is assembled tothe handle 23 by means of screw 67, the legs 69 and 70 are nested withina horizontally extending handle bar 74 as seen in FIG. 2 and eithernotch 71 or 72, depending on which side the cord is emanating, securelyholds the cord 25 to the handle 23. Therefore, if the handle door 45should be broken for any reason so that it no longer holds the cord 25in its proper location, the cord is still restrained and fixedly held tothe handle main portion 41 by means of the bracket 65. Electricinsulating sleeve 76 and 77 are slid into position over the connectionbetween cord conductor 58 with terminal 61 and the connection betweencord conductor 59 With terminal 62, respectively, and these sleevesextend a sufficient distance along the terminals so that if the handledoor 45 is broken or completely removed, no electrically conductingsurface is exposed.

To provide stability of the iron in its upended storage position, thehandle door 45 is molded with an integral member 80 which extendshorizontally and is normal to the hand gripping portion 42. The doormember 80 has a flattened V-shaped configuration With the laterallyspaced ends 81 and 82 being angled slightly upwardly. Furthermore, thedoor member 80 which is approximately the same height above the soleplate as the hand gripping portion 42 has a rearwardly facing flatsurface 84 with the central portion 85 thereof recessed for receiving anescutcheon or the like. Thus, the rearwardly facing fiat surface 84 is aperipheral surface of the member 80 When the user wishes to set the iron20 down so that the sole plate 27 does not come in contact with thesupporting surface, the iron is upended as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 8so that the shell ends 34 and 35 and the door surface 84 engage thesupporting surface. The relationship between the surface 84 and the ends34 and 35 causes the sole plate bottom surface 37 to be angledapproximately twelve degrees from a vertical plane when the iron is inits upended position in order for the center of gravity to fall wellwithin the points of contact with the supporting surface.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 8, the iron 20 is shown in its upended storageposition. The geometry of the engagement between the iron and thesupporting surface is shown schematically in FIG. 7 wherein line XYrepresents a horizontal line through the upper edge of ends 81 and 82with points F and G designating the upper edge of door member ends 81and 82, respectively. Points A and C denote the bottom edge of shellends 34 and 35. The line between points D and B represents alongitudinal plane passing through the center of the iron and point B ismidway between points A and C while point D is midway between points Fand G. The center of gravity denoted in FIG. 6 is projected verticallyinto the supporting plane containing points ACFG and is denoted asprojected center of gravity point B. To clarify the locations of lettersACFG, these letters have been applied to the corresponding structure inFIGS. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8. If an iron handle is constructed so that in itsupended position the handle makes a single point contact with thesupporting surface, it would make contact at D so that the points ofcontact would be ADC which, as can be seen in FIG. 7, is an isoscelestriangle. With this construction, the iron would be relatively unstablesince the iron would topple over as soon as the iron was tipped so thatthe projected center of gravity E moved outside of the triangle definedby ACD. That is to say, the center of gravity would only have to movefrom E to pass either point I or K in order for the iron to be tilted toa position wherein it would topple over rather than move back under theinfluence of gravity to a stable upended position. [it should be notedthat while the iron is very unstable with regard to side movementthereof, it has much better stability when tipped toward the handle ortoward point D' and still further better stability if tilted towards thesole plate or toward point B.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the width of thehand gripping portion of the handle 42 is approximately one inch whilethe lateral distance between door member ends 81 and 82 is approximatelythree inches and the distance between shell ends 34 and 35 is slightlylarger than three inches. Thus, the width of the door member 80 issubstantially greater than the width of the handle gripping portion 42.The distance between the member ends "81 and 82, to shell ends 34 and 35is approximately four inches. Referring again to FIG. 7, lines AF and CGrepresent an imaginary line between complementary ends of the doormember .80 and the shell rear surface 33. In order for the iron 20 totopple over sideways, it would be necessary to tilt the iron until theprojected center of gravity E falls outside of either line FA or GC. Inorder to do this, the shortest distance that the projected center ofgravity B would have to move would be either along EH, which is a linenormal to line AF, or along EI, which is a line normal to line CG. Theschematic sketch in FIG. 7 discloses the iron 20 has the projectedcenter of gravity E closer to the handle distance ED than the soleplate, distance EB. Since the side stability is normally poorest for aniron in its upended position, it is desirable to have the side stabilityat least equal to the stability against tipping toward either the handleor sole plate. 'Inasmuch as the stability of the present iron isslightly greater towards the sole plate, the stability against sidetipping should be matched to the stability towards the handle so thatthe distance DE is equal to both EH and 1-31. It can be seen that thisis accomplished because EH, ED and B1 are all radii of a common circle.Therefore, with the present iron, it is advantageous to have thedistance from the projected center of gravity E to the midpoint of linePG or point D approximately equal to the distance from the projectedcenter of gravity E to a point on line AF which also lies on a linepassing through the projected center of gravity and normal to line AF.Thus, the side stability is equal to stability towards the handle.Similarly, if the projected center .of gravity E were to be closer tothe sole plate than the handle so that distance DE were greater than EB,then it would be desirable to have the side stability equal to thestability of the iron towards the sole plate. In this instance, it wouldbe desirable to have line EH and EI equal to line BB. in other words, tohave good side stability with an iron having a reasonably wide base, itis desirable to have EH and EI approximately equal to the shorter distance of ED and EB. If this relationship is adhered to and the ends ofshell rear surface ends 34 and 35 are sufliciently spread to permit goodstability, the iron will not easily topple over when it is in itsupright or upended position.

While there has been illustrated and described a single preferredembodiment of the invention, it will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art that numerous changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the present invention. It is, therefore, aimed inthe appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is considered new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. An electric pressing iron comprising a heatable soleplate which ishorizontally disposed when the iron is in its operating position, aninverted cup-shaped shell attached to the soleplate and formed with arearwardly facing surface for supporting the iron in its upendedposition, a handle molded from plastic material secured to andpositioned above said shell, said handle defining a horizontallyextending hand gripping portion which is disposed near the top of theiron, said handle including a rear member extending horizontally andnormal to said hand gripping portion, said rear member extendinglaterally a substantial distance beyond the lateral edges of said handgripping portion on each side of the handle, said member being spacedabove said shell rearwardly facing surface for providing stability whenthe iron is in its upended position, an electric power cord, said rearmember being detachably secured to the iron and being formed with firstand second recesses for alternatively receiving and locking said cord tosaid handle so that said cord can be selectively secured to said handleto emerge therefrom from opposite sides, a U-shaped bracket attachableto said handle under said rear member, said bracket formed with opposednotches formed in the spaced legs of said U-shaped bracket, each of saidnotches being positioned closely adjacent one of said recesses andreceiving said cord for locking said cord to said handle for selectivealignment with either of said rear member recesses, first means securingsaid bracket to said handle, and second means locking said rear memberto the iron and being independent of said first means whereby if therear member is broken the cord remains fixedly secured to said handle.

2. The electric pressing iron of claim 1 wherein said electric powercord is provided with conductors engageable with iron terminal means,electrical insulating means slidably received on said conductors forcovering same and said terminal means whereby if the rear member isbroken the conductors and terminal means are not exposed.

3. An electric pressing iron comprising a base means having a bottom forironing clothes and a rearwardly facing section with laterally spacedends which are adapted for supporting the iron in its upended position,a handle secured to said base means and being provided with an elongatedhand gripping portion near the top of the iron and a rearwardly facingportion having outwarly extending member means, said member meansdefining laterally spaced ends both of which are outboard from and onopposite sides of said hand gripping portion and both of which aredisposed for supporting the iron in its upended position, said sectionends and said member means ends being related so that the center ofgravity of the iron in its upended position projects vertically to apoint in a horizontal plane which also contains said section ends andmember means ends wherein the shortest distance from the projectedcenter of gravity to a line between complementary ends of said membermeans and said section is approximately equal to the shorter of thedistances from the projected center of gravity to the midpoint betweensaid member means ends and midpoint between said section ends.

4. The electric pressing iron of claim 3 wherein the distance betweensaid section ends is approximately equal to the distance between membermeans ends.

'5. The electric pressing iron of claim 3 wherein said rearwardly facingportion being joined to said handle at a parting line, an electric powercord extending into said handle at said parting line, fastening meanssecuring said portion to said handle whereby said cord is lockedtherebetween.

6. An electric pressing iron comprising a base means having a bottom forironing clothes and a rearwardly facing section with laterally spacedends which are adapted for supporting the iron in its upended'position,ahandle secured to said base means and being provided with an elongatedhand gripping portion near the top of the iron and a rearwardly facingportion having outwardly extending member means, said member meansdefining laterally spaced ends both of which are outboard from and onopposite sides of said hand gripping portion and both of which aredisposed for supporting the iron in its upended position, said sectionends and. said member means ends being related so that the center ofgravity of the iron in its upended position projects vertically to apoint in a horizontal plane which also contains said section ends andmember means ends wherein the shortest distance from the projectedcenter of gravity to a line between complementary ends of said memberrrneans and said section is approximately equal to the distance from theprojected center of gravity to the closer of the line between saidmember means ends and of the line between said section ends.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,180,399 11/1939 Clark ,219 24s2,416,984 3/1947 Farr 219 24s 2,624,136 1/1953 Wilson 38-79 10 2,632,9693/1953 Gerber 38-79 FOREIGN PATENTS 383,243 10/1923 Germany.

5 JOSEPH V. TRUHE, Primary Examiner -P. W. GOWDEY, Assistant Examiner

